The aim of the study was to explore bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic characteristics of organizational structure. A further aim was to investigate whether differences were related to types of industries. Eight organizational characteristics were measured, based on interviews with local managers at 90 workplaces in a broad sample of industries in mid-Sweden. The study showed that post-bureaucratic as well as bureaucratic characteristics coexisted in most workplaces. The results are not in accordance with the rhetoric that considers bureaucracy obsolete in contemporary organizations. Significant differences were revealed between industries in seven of the eight characteristics.

Using a multilevel approach, this study explores how job demands and control are dependent on the organizational context in which work is performed. The data set consisted of 3,485 employees at 51 establishments divided into 141 sub-units and belonging to 10 parent organizations. Data were collected by means of a survey answered by the employees and structured interviews conducted with operative managers at participating establishments. The results showed that a significant proportion of the variance in job demands and control was attributed to the organization, and that the three organizational levels varied in terms of their impact on the two psychosocial dimensions. More specifically, job demands were mostly affected by the establishment level, while the sub-unit level seemed to be the most important for job control. It is concluded that in studies of working conditions, the organizational context should be considered.

7. Do Sex Differences in the Association between Work Exposure and Health in the Manufacturing Industry Depend on Work Context?

The aim of this study is to investigate the associations between work exposure such as psychosocial work factors and work posture, and health in men and women with the same type of occupation in the manufacturing industry. Two follow-ups with a follow-up rate of 67% from the WOrk, Lipids and Fibrinogen (WOLF) cohort from the Northern Sweden were used. The database included 1589 men and 286 women, which is representative of the proportions between men and women in the Swedish manufacturing industry. To be able to understand the importance of work context, the participants were categorized according to work tasks (working with things or symbols). Logistic regression was used for interaction analyses between sex and psychosocial work factors (such as demand, control, social support, role conflict, and work-family conflict) as well as physical work factors (such as work posture), and health outcomes (work overcommitment, fatigue, and neck and back pain). The results showed contextually different patterns of sex different associations between psychosocial work factors and health outcomes. For instance, women were at larger risk of ill-health (in the form of work overcommitment) when working with things, whereas men were at larger risk of both work overcommitment and fatigue when working with symbols. Women working with symbols had a larger risk of neck and back pain due to work-family conflict. The health outcome that was most sensitive to the sex different associations was work overcommitment. In conclusion, the work context matters for sex differences in the association between psychosocial work factors and health and since work overcommitment is a predictor of disease, it should be of interest for the Occupational Health Services and personnel departments to survey.

The aim of this article is to discuss how the concept of inequality regimes can contribute to theoretical and methodological advances in occupational health research. We posit the mutual advantages of bringing together feminist intersectional analysis of inequality in working life with studies of working conditions and health. The job demands and control model (JDC) is used as a starting point for the discussion. Reintegration of organizational analysis into studies of working conditions and health is warranted, as organizations influence how working conditions are distributed and individuals are stratified in the labor market. We refer to that development as going from healthy work to healthy workplaces. We discuss how the concept of inequality regimes is open for mixed method analysis and how it can be used as a theoretical framework for unraveling the ways in which inequalities in working conditions and health are (re)created in different types of organizations.

Despite the increasing proportion of women in traditionally male-dominated occupations, the Swedish labor market is still highly gender- segregated. An example is the Swedish forest industry in which about 90 percent of the labor force are men. The male dominance is identified as a barrier for development and has resulted in aspiration for gender equality. Social justice, increased competitiveness, and improved legitimacy as a modern and contemporary industry are examples of arguments used (Johansson). Earlier studies have found that the masculine coded culture within forestry might obstruct development as well as recruitment of employees. The industry is described as unmodern and old-fogeyish which may result in loss of competence if qualified staff decides to leave the forest industry. Difficulties to recruit and keep staff are put forward as contributing causes to the later years increased endeavor for gender equality. It was based on such a problem description one of the major forest companies initiated their work with the goal of creating a gender equal organization. A first step was to carry out a quantitative and qualitative status report of attitudes and experiences of employee’ working conditions and work environment from a gender perspective.

Our aim is to problematize the gendered implications of employees and managers working conditions and work environment. The theoretical framework of ´inequality regimes´, as presented by Acker (2006) inspires the analysis. The concept was developed as a means of examining the production and reproduction of complex inequalities based on class, gender and race in organizations. The empirical material that is presented in this article is based on focus group interviews and a questionnaire that was completed by personnel and managers employed in a company in the forest industry. The paper contributes with new insights on women’s labor market (dis)advantage in Nordic welfare states by discussing how particular patterns of inequality are (re)produced by emphasizing a description of inequalities, based on a quantitative analysis, and the experiences of inequalities based on a qualitative analysis.

The results unfolds a gendered logic of the company that includes certain norms that are built on the image of the ideal, abstract worker, in this case a white male working full time, who enjoys hunting, has a hunting dog, feels at home in the woods and has an educational background in forestry. The organizational culture is characterized by a hegemonic masculinity based on rationality and competitiveness, a “management by excel”. This also highlight a culture where quantitative measurements has the upper hand and obstruct the possibilities to challenge inequalities. Such normalization of the hegemonic masculinity places women as something deviant, an exception from the normal. These masculine norms and culture highlights how gendered inequalities are reproduced in everyday activities, practices and processes in this company.

Research on work-related health has mainly focused on individual factors. The present study expands the focus by exploring the role of organizational characteristics of workplaces for different individual health outcomes. The aim of the study was to look at differences in relative effect of workplace variations on five health outcomes, and to explain those differences in health outcomes by organizational characteristics. The sample encompassed 90 workplaces in Sweden and about 4300 individuals employed within these workplaces. Measurement of the workplace characteristics was carried out independently of the measurement of the individual's working conditions and health. Organizational data were collected by interviews with local managers at participating workplaces, and individual data were obtained by means of a survey of the employees. The results showed that a significant proportion of the variance in sickness absence, work ability, general health, and musculoskeletal disorders was attributed to the workplace. Of eight tested organizational characteristics, customer adaptation, lean production, and performance control could explain some of this workplace variance. The results also showed that only one organizational effect remained significant when controlled for the individual confounder of age and gender. High customer adaptation is associated with higher sickness absence. This association is not mediated via differences in mental and physical job strain.

INTRODUCTION: Women generally report more work-related musculoskeletal complaints than men and have higher rates of sickness absence, even within occupations. One likely reason is that work tasks within the occupation are gendered, that is, women and men have different tasks, even when sharing the same job title. Retail is an appealing sector for studying working conditions and work environment in a gender context. The prevalence of work-related complaints is high, physical loads may differ considerably between tasks and the distribution of tasks is likely gendered. The overall aim of this study in retail is to examine factors at the organisational and individual level that may, in a gender perspective, explain working conditions, work tasks, workloads and musculoskeletal health. METHODS AND ANALYSES: Data will be collected in two grocery stores, each with 50-70 workers, at two occasions interspersed by about 1 year. In each of these four waves, data collection will include a web-based questionnaire to all workers addressing, for example, work tasks, psychosocial factors, fatigue and pain; semistructured interviews with managers and approximately 10 workers addressing, for example, competences and decision levels; and technical measurements of postures, movements and heart rate in about 30 workers. The study is novel in combining an organisational gender perspective addressed through qualitative methods with a quantitative analysis of tasks, workload and health. The design allows an examination of both how genders may differ, and why they may differ, as well as analyses of the extent to which gendered working conditions change over time in the two participating stores. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Approval of the study by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (reference number 2017/404) has been obtained. This work will be disseminated by publication of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals, presentations at scientific conferences and in meetings with representatives from Swedish retail, including unions and employers' organisations.